Paint it Black
by Valhalla Redfern
Summary: A group of renegade Circle Midnight witches kidnap a girl with mysterious powers to use in a dark sacrifice to wake an evil force. They send a ruthless Night World assassin to guard her, and as long as nothing goes wrong, the sacrifice should run smoothly
1. Part 1

Disclaimer: Concepts of Night World belong to LJ Smith and are used for fun only. Concepts of arcobaleno dragons belong to Sukida Hashteher (Sukida_Hashteher@YOURWAP.com) and are used with permission.   
Summary: A group of renegade Circle Midnight witches kidnap a girl with mysterious powers to use in a dark sacrifice to wake an evil force. They send a ruthless Night World assassin to guard her, and as long as nothing goes wrong, the sacrifice should run smoothly. But how often do things run smoothly for Night World assassins?  
Author's notes: Feedback of any kind would be appreciated greatly. *word* = italics //word// = telepathic speaking ^word^= personal thought.  
  
Part 1  
  
"I don't think this is such a great idea, how can we be sure no one will find out about...you know." Jessika looked around nervously, hating the gloomy old basement of the family mansion.  
  
It seemed to go on for miles, stretching into dark nothingness like an underground cave. She wouldn't have been surprised to see stalactites or mites. She could never remember which were the ones that grew up and the ones that grew down. Or maybe an underground lake in the parts she never dared to venture, where the light never reached.   
  
"Oh get over it, you never think anything is a good idea unless it's yours," her older sister Nienna snorted in contempt, taking a blanket and some other things Jessika couldn't quite make out from an old trunk. "If you're that worried, get one of your friends to housesit or something. That Saffron girl'll do it, won't she?"  
  
Jessika frowned and nodded as she followed Nienna back out the basement, watching as Nienna reset the padlock on the basement. She didn't understand her sister's interest in her new friend Saffron Iria. Nienna never showed any interest in Jessika's Daybreak friends, calling them dull boring, and a bunch of other things Jessika was too polite to repeat in good company.   
  
"I guess so, considering every other kid in town is convinced the house is haunted," Jessika snorted, feeling relief running through her as she reached the ground floor, the huge foyer, with it's gigantic glass doors and skylight in the ceiling providing ample light.   
  
"Yes, well, let them think what they want," Nienna said with a strange smile. Her reflection was oddly distorted in the glass front doors of the mansion, tall and slender, mane of chestnut hair sweeping back from her forehead, falling in natural curls to her waste, nicely toned skin, tanned to a perfect bronze by the California sun, her smile was unusually twisted, even for Nienna, her green eyes glittering oddly.   
  
"What are you up to?" Jessika asked, studying her own reflection, trying to draw herself up a little taller, than her measly five foot six, pushing her unruly mop of fluffy blonde hair out her eyes.   
Nienna turned away from admiring her own reflection. "Nothing," she said sweetly. "Listen, I've got to go out for a while. We're supposed to be leaving for the family party at seven, so your friend needs to be here before then." And with that Nienna walked out the door into the afternoon sunshine.  
  
After finally graduating a few weeks ago, Jessika had found herself with very little to do. She had a Summer Circle to look forward to on the Solstice and a few Circle Daybreak meets for people living in L.A. There was talk of a visit up to the headquarters in Las Vegas.  
  
When the new girl had come to town, Saffron Iria had been odd from the start. Her unusually bright purple hair, and even weirder gold eyes flecked with blue, which were apparently natural. The other kids had snickered, passing her off as a weirdo. But Jessika actually liked the girl. They had met in a makeup shop at the mall, Saffron had seemed totally lost and didn't seem to be sure what she was looking for.   
  
Jessika had talked to her, and learned Saffron would be starting the local university with her in September. She had been a little surprised when Saffron had shown her one or two very unusual witch-shops in the not-so-respectable parts of her hometown. Magic potions and powders, spells in ancient languages, voodoo dolls and crystals she had never heard of.   
  
It soon became clear that Saffron was no ordinary witch, though Saffron wouldn't say exactly what she was. Jessika had taken one of the scrolls, just out of pure interest because the runes were so weird.  
  
Nienna had found it and asked where she'd got it. Thinking at the time it was a perfectly reasonable question, Jessika had told her. And Nienna's interest in Saffron had grown, though Jessika never knew why.  
  
Saffron had said rather bluntly one afternoon Nienna was evil, her core was dark and had no soul. Jessika had just laughed it off. "She's a Circle Midnight witch, what'd you expect?"  
  
She picked up her phone and called the number Saffron had given her. "How do you feel about house-sitting for a few days?" she asked.  
  
"House-sitting? In your giant mansion? Where are you going?"  
  
Jessika groaned. "It's my Grandfather's 80th birthday, and there's a big family party in some fancy hotel in L.A. We all have to go, but we've got" (^a nasty secret buried in the basement we don't want anyone to wake up and if that happens it could be disastrous^ Jessika thought) "lots of valuable things here, and most of the staff will be coming with us."  
  
"Um...I guess, I don't have anything else to do for the weekend."  
  
"Great. We're leaving about seven. Come about half an hour or so before." Jessika felt oddly guilty as she hung up.  
  
* * *  
  
  
  
  
"Where did you *get* this?" Claire stared at the scroll in Nienna's hand in disbelief.   
  
Nienna smirked proudly. She had known from first sight that there was something unusual about that Saffron girl. Her unusually bright colouring was a dead give away she wasn't human for starters. The scrolls had caught her eyes. It was shapeshifter language, but not of any shifter in the House of Drache today.   
  
"My idiot sister's new friend Saffron Iria showed her some weird witch shops where they have this kind of stuff."   
  
Claire shook her raven head in fascination as she studied the scrolls, holding it up against the light of a collection of black candles to see it better. "Deva will be interested in this." She rolled the scroll up and placed it in front of the candles.  
  
Nienna frowned a little. "So what is it, it's some kind of ancient shapeshifter thing, I know that."  
  
Claire eyed her for a few moments, pacing around the small chamber. Nienna watched her, the sound of the black robes Claire wore made irritating swishing sounds on the stone floor. This was her discovery, she had simply brought it to Claire because Claire was Second in Command of their Circle. She had easier access to Deva than she did.   
  
"It looks like the writings of an arcobaleno dragon."  
  
Nienna's mind was blank. "A what?"  
  
"Roughly translated, Rainbow dragon." Claire laughed harshly. "Sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? There's one buried under your house."  
  
"The one that we're going to try and raise next week when my family are out the way in L.A. As far as I was aware it was just a regular dragon. What the hell is the difference?"   
  
Nienna knew next to nothing about dragons, but on researching her family's history, the plot of land on which her house had been built, there was a number of violent deaths, weird occurrences people in the town had put it down to ghosts and evil spirits and other sort of ghost crap. Nienna's Circle had discovered the truth.   
  
Claire shrugged. "Deva knows more than she's saying. We need a good dragon's blood to wake that of the dark one we want to raise. That Saffron girl will be perfect. We need to get her to your house in time for the sacrifice."  
  
Nienna smirked. "I've convinced Jessika to ask her idiot friend to house-sit. She doesn't have any clue on what we're planning on doing."  
  
"Good, because if she knows, then we'd have to kill her." Claire glanced over at her, eyebrow raised meaningfully.   
  
"What a shame," Nienna snorted. "No, Jessika will be at the party, so we don't have to worry about her. I'll make some excuse and leave. Why'd we need Saffron for the sacrifice?" What did Claire know that she wasn't saying?   
  
Claire looked at her for a few minutes, then laughed again, this time more of a giggle. "You almost sound like you know what you're talking about. The scroll is merely an added bonus."  
  
Nienna opened her mouth, then shut it, glaring mutely. Now she was totally confused. She knew there was dark and powerful dragon buried under her house that her Circle was going to try and raise. The ritual required a sacrifice, some weird girl had come to town, someone else had mentioned she would be good to use, now it turned out there was some other species of dragon wandering around, and from what she could work out this girl was one of them? It didn't make a whole lot of sense at the moment.   
  
"Just make sure Saffron is at your house around midnight tomorrow. I've got to make a few last minute arrangements, you get to go now," Claire said dismissively, taking a cell phone out the pockets of her robes.  
  
Nienna scowled and walked out the room, and out the Circle's headquarters. What was she letting herself in for here?  
  
* * * 


	2. Part 2

A/n: Huge thanks to everyone who's commented, parts should be coming reasonably quickly, three will be out sometime next week.   
  
  
Part 2  
  
Saffron didn't know why she'd agreed to stay in the house. It gave her the creeps. There was something distinctively *wrong* about it, and she knew she wasn't crazy thinking about it. At least, she was pretty sure. But Jessika was the only person who had spoken to her since she had arrived in town, and it seemed only fair to agree.  
  
It was just a house, she told herself. Maybe someone had died in it a long time ago, or an accident had happened to one of the construction crew or something.   
  
Every time she was in there, it seemed to make the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She felt almost like she had to reach to the pendent around her neck, the amethyst, onyx and emerald design she had had as long as she could remember.   
  
^Get over yourself^ she told herself as she packed a few things. ^It's just a few days in a friend's house, that's all.^ If she kept repeating that to herself over and over, maybe at some point, she might actually convince herself to believe it.  
  
"I'd watch out for those Midnight witches while you're there." Her older sister (though only by a year) Miakoda was lounging in the door to Saffron's room.   
  
Saffron frowned a little as she put a few books in her bag. "What's you mean? Jessika's Twilight. They're okay."  
  
Miakoda shook her head, her sky-blue hair shimmering with its coppery highlights. "It's not her I'm worried about. It's that sister of hers."  
  
Saffron had noticed Jessika's sister Nienna giving her funny looks, but a lot of people gave the Iria sisters odd looks when they were around; it wasn't exactly new. Miakoda preferred most times, to blend in with the humans around her.   
  
  
Saffron herself didn't really see the point. They weren't human, were never human, so why should they try to be something they were not. They were like no other Night Person she had never met. Saffron liked the uniqueness of it.   
  
"I'm sure you're just being paranoid, Midnight witches aren't exactly your favourite people." Saffron looked at her sister meaningfully.  
  
Miakoda straightened, her rainbow flecked eyed flashing angrily, and Saffron knew she'd hit a nerve. Only this time she didn't feel guilty about it.   
  
"I'm only warning you now, or you'll end up like Rydal did." She turned and stalked away, shoulders straight, hair flying. Saffron wondered if the hair was some dramatic magic effect, there was no breeze or anything.   
  
Saffron shrugged and picked up her bag. She knew the whole soulmate thing and Midnight witches were an iffy issue of Miakoda, but it had been her own fault. She'd trusted the bad guys, they'd betrayed her, end of story.   
  
Saffron left her house, walking quickly down the quiet streets to Jessika's mansion in the rich section of town, where all the designer boutiques, fancy restaurants, designer hair dressers, houses to die for were. Where each house had an outrageously expensive car in front, often more than one.   
  
She shook her head and rang the doorbell, hearing a delicate chiming echoing across the huge open foyer inside. The size of the room always amazed her, and who in their right minds in the modern day and age had glass front doors, even if the glass was opaque.   
  
Jessika answered the door, dressed in a clearly expensive yet respectable white DKNY evening dress she had picked up the other week. Her blonde hair was piled on top of her head with a jewelled clip, a butler was carrying a suitcase to a white limo that had arrived out front.   
  
"Thanks, come on in, stick your stuff anywhere. The fridge is full, there'll be a maid cleaning and doing laundry at some point, we should be back sometime Wednesday. Apparently we all have to be there half an hour than before we were supposed to. 'Bye!" Jessika waved, and stumbled on high heels to the limo. Saffron pushed the door shut behind her.  
  
She wandered into the lounge, turning on the almost cinema-size TV, flipping through until she found something to keep her interested. She did not get the human fascination with this piece of electric equipment, but even she had to admit, a preview into the lives of other people, even if they were only fictional, could get quite gripping, depending on the programme. After settling on an E.R. episode she headed to find the fridge.  
  
* * *  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"And this was given to Nienna by who?"  
  
"A friend of her sister. The friend's name is Saffron Iria. From what it sounds like, she's one of *them*." Claire waited for Deva's response, twiddling her thumbs nervously.   
  
They were in the attic of Deva's old house, where they performed most of their darker rituals. Deva held a knife in her hand, and something small was squirming under a black sheet. Deva was dressed from head to toe in black robes, only her murky green eyes showing. "I know, I saw her already. And we're all set for Sunday?"  
  
"Pretty much, Nienna's family is going out of town until late next week, Saffron is supposed to be house-sitting." Claire's lip curled a little. "She has no clue what's going on."  
  
Deva studied the scrolls for a few minutes longer. Claire waited, a little impatient. Her arms folded, and it was hard not to tap her foot. She had to remember to control herself around someone as powerful as Deva. Her last assistant's head was a trophy on the fireplace downstairs. "As soon as we have her secured, we're going to need someone to guard her." Deva looked up. "Can I trust you to take care of that? Someone like Cash Redfern will do."  
  
Claire nodded and made a face, not particularly thrilled at the idea of bringing in Cash Redfern. An infamous assassin amongst the Night World at the moment, a pet of the council. Supposed to be cold, deadly and heartless. ^Then again, aren't they all?^ she thought as she went into the study and pulled his number from an address book.  
  
There was a final meeting to go over the plan later that night, then on Sunday, the actual ritual could get started. Providing they had Saffron, once they had their sacrifice, and the potions were made, the chanting could start. Unfortunately, it would take some time, or so Deva said.   
  
She would have preferred her own choice of guardian assassin, rather than a snobby Redfern, but since Deva had more or less requested him, he'd do.   
  
"I don't listen to anyone unless the offer is fifty grand or more, so is this going to be a waste of my time?"   
  
Claire had to force herself not to snap something rude at him. "sixty grand for starters, possibly negations depending on whether or not the task is performed successfully."  
  
"What's the task, and who are you?"  
  
"I am Claire Mandrake of Circle Midnight, ever heard of Deva Harman?"  
  
Cash was silent for a few minutes. "I've heard of her. You have my attention.  
  
"The task is securing an Arcobaleno dragon, making sure she doesn't escape for a ritual sacrifice."   
  
"That's it? What's the catch?"  
  
Claire couldn't answer him, mainly because she wasn't entirely sure what the catch was herself. There was another dragon buried under Nienna's house to raise, which was the whole point of the ritual. Why they needed the blood of one to wake the other, she wasn't sure.   
  
"I don't know," she said finally.  
  
"All right, you've got yourself a deal. Where?"  
  
Claire gave him the address. "Be there tonight at midnight." And she hung up before he could say anything else. If Cash lived up to his reputation, everything should go fine. ^Yeah, and involving rituals of death and great power at stake, how often do you think they go smoothly?^ her inner voice pointed out.  
  
Most of the time, Claire's inner voice had a nasty habit of being right, and she had learned, as much as it aggrieved her, to actually listen to it. She picked up her cell phone so the call couldn't be traced, and dialled another number. It never hurt to have a backup around, just in case something went wrong.   
  
* * * 


	3. Part 3

Part 3  
  
It wasn't like she didn't have better things to do with her time. These people seemed to just think she was available whenever they needed an extra bit of backup that would probably turn out to be useless anyway.   
  
But even she was intrigued enough, this time, to be told she was going to be paid. The house was in the snobby part of town, like the clichéd part of any small town that she seemed to drift across these days, there was always a giant shopping mall, there was always a high street and some shops, convenient stores on every other street corner, a 'bad' part of the town where everything was run down and the people were supposed to be dangerous, there was the suburban, middle/upper-middle class parts, and of course the snobby section where everyone had fabulous cars and houses with gates.  
  
It would be nice to visit a town with a difference, though she couldn't quite see that happening. But that wasn't really the point. The place she was supposed to go was pretty easy to find, though she didn't really get what she was actually doing there.  
  
The message had been clear enough, come here, hang around in case we need you, walk away with a large amount of money in your pocket. Simple enough.   
  
She'd just have to wait and see. (Again with the cliché, but there wasn't much else to do.)  
  
* * *  
Generally something this easy wasn't the type of thing that Cash tended to go for in his work. He liked the challenge, the target who put up a fight rather than the wimpy ones who just stood there whilst they were attacked.   
  
He had only agreed to comply with whoever the hell Claire Mandrake was when she told him it was Deva Harman who would be paying him. The only lost witch found who hadn't gone over to Circle Daybreak, there was one other he'd heard about, but that guy was supposed to have been killed in a car accident.   
  
That idea alone was fascinating to him, considering all the other lost witches that were popping up like flies had spun off to the other side.   
  
He wondered who the target was, he wasn't even supposed to kill anyone, just guard them. He didn't know what the hell an Arcobaleno dragon was either. Dragons were supposed to be ancient shapeshifters buried thousands of years ago - another supposedly uncommon thing that was featuring a lot lately, he noticed.   
  
Checking his watch as he cruised into the small town, Cash noted it was only ten p.m. A little too early to start making himself known, perhaps, Claire hadn't given him any sort of check in point, or told him to come meet Deva. Just be at the house at midnight.  
  
That was a little weird. Something to do with whatever ritual sacrifice they were performing, he guessed, wishing there was someway he could get in and see it. But hey, he reasoned, his instincts taking him to the house anyway, he was an assassin sneaking around was something he was good at.   
  
He parked in a discreet side street and approached the house, as if he was a walker out for an evening stroll. The house was huge, stone white, four storeys, and a huge iron gate in front, a walk around the perimeter showed security cameras on every corner. The security station was at the front of the house, just before the iron gates, opening now as a figure came out.   
  
A tall figure with chestnut hair loose and shimmering in the street lights, dressed entirely in black, but she didn't have the senses of a vampire, which made him wonder. He caught a glimpse of green cat eyes and a preoccupied expression. He darted inside before the gates could close, and at the same time, a small black cat darted through as well.   
  
"Hey, hold it a minute," a security guard was coming out, hands on hips, a sauntering sway in his walk like a tough cop in a bad TV movie. "Who might you be then?"  
  
Cash sighed with impatience. "Bored," he answered, with a fast movement like a striking snake he reached out and grabbed the guards gun, pointing it at his head and firing. The shot was almost irritatingly loud, but with any luck, anyone passing would dismiss it as a car backfiring.   
  
He moved the body inside the security hut, looking at the cameras monitoring the house. Inside was a lone girl, watching a giant TV screen, munching what looked liked a bowl of popcorn. There were a few figures climbing over a back fence, he guessed must be the start of the Circle Midnight witches arriving to set up for whatever their plan was.   
  
His cell-phone was ringing. "What?" he asked.  
  
"It's Claire," the girl's voice said. "Are you in the mansion yet?"  
  
"Yeah, security guard's taken care of. Your people are starting to arrive."  
  
"Good, do us a favour and open the gates, we'll be going for the girl soon. We can't afford a fuck up."  
  
"Whatever." He hung up and found the button that opened the gates, leaving the body where it was and slipping away into the shadows to explore the rest of the grounds.  
  
* * *  
  
Saffron's head shot up as she heard a loud noise that sounded oddly chilling, part of her was telling her to go investigate, but the other half was telling her to stay where she was.   
  
Considering she was alone in a giant mansion, she was more inclined to remain in the safety of Jessika's living room with her pop corn and the Cinema size TV screen.   
  
She heard a soft mewing at the windows, looking up to see a small black cat tapping the glass with its paws. She smiled and let it in. The cat hopped through the open window, hiss3ed and her and darted off.  
  
Saffron frowned a little, Jessika had never mentioned she had a cat before. It probably belonged to her mean older sister. She shrugged and headed back to the TV, debating on whether or not she wanted to order a pizza.   
  
An uncomfortable feeling was plaguing her, telling her something was wrong. She got the odd little push like this every now and then, without really knowing how to explain it. "Is anyone there?" she called out, her voice echoing in the huge room.   
  
Cautiously, she moved to the entrance foyer, but could see or sense no one inside the house but herself. ^You're just nervous cause the house is so big, that's all^ she told herself. She opened the glass front doors and looked around outside, the light was on in the security hut, if anything was wrong, the guard would tell her.  
  
She closed the door, made sure it was locked and went back into the lounge, trying to settle down. ^There's nothing out there^ she thought. ^Nothing.^  
  
* * * 


	4. Part 4

Author's Note: Huge thanks to everyone who's commented, gives me a happy to know people are actually reading - and logging in to review. Hopefully next part should be out by next week.   
Part 4  
  
Jessika was bored already. She sighed heavily, forcing herself to smile and be nice to snobby relatives whose names she only knew from sending her presents for Christmas and birthdays. Usually large cheques.  
  
Her instincts were telling her something was wrong. Nienna hadn't shown up at the party yet. She'd called Saffron briefly and Saffron promised her everything was okay.  
  
"Come on, it's not that bad," her cousin Willow approached her from the side lines. Dressed in a gold coloured long gown with a sweeping skirt, no back and tiny spaghetti steps, raven hair in a perfect up-do, perfect as usual, Jessika felt exceptionally dull, even in her DKNY dress. Apparently Willow was very proud of the fact that her dress had been designed by the same designer who did the dress Nicole Kidman wore at the last Oscars.   
  
"I'm not bored," Jessika lied, taking a quick sip of the champagne glass she'd been holding all night. She'd been too nervous to drink.  
  
Everywhere around her smiling rich people waved and stood in little groups talking, mainly about money and fashion and how proud they all were of their kids, who was going to what college.  
  
"Yeah, and I'm a werewolf," Willow snorted, snickering at her own bad joke.   
  
Jessika's eyes rolled, wondering how to get away from her cousin. "All right, so I'm bored," Jessika admitted. "What are you gonna do, sue me?"   
  
"When's Nienna supposed to be getting here?" Willow asked, inspecting her polished gold nails. "Someone's gotta do something to liven this party up. Corpses could have more fun."  
  
Jessika decided not to comment, mainly cause she knew Willow was right. And she knew from experience to never tell a snobby aristocratic Redfern they were right. Though she couldn't help wondering what Nienna was up to.   
  
"Excuse me," she muttered, hurrying away from Willow. She pulled her cell phone out the small white purse she was carrying, calling Nienna's. No answer. Just ringing and ringing. She hung up in frustration.   
  
What was going on?  
  
* * *  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Willow sighed, feeling like strangling herself for agreeing to put up with Nienna's insane plan. Jessika didn't even like he, how the hell was she supposed to keep the girl distracted from finding out what was really going on? Jessika, unsurprisingly, seemed to be doing anything she could to avoid finding herself alone with Willow.   
  
With so many wealthy, well-dressed people it was kind of hard to keep track of one little blonde girl in a white dress. She pushed her way through the crowd, expanding her shifter senses to catch any scent of Jessika.   
  
She muttered under her breath with anger and pulled out her own cell-phone, calling Nienna. Nienna answered almost instantly. "Problem?"  
  
"Yeah, finding this bitch is like finding a fucking needle in a goddamn shithouse," Willow snapped. "Why didn't you get someone she actually *likes* to keep an eye on her and make sure she stays?"  
  
"Now there's no need for profanity," Nienna said in a chiding sing song.   
  
Willow's eyes rolled. She was hardly one to talk. "Whatever."  
  
"Is she suspicious or anything?"  
  
"I don't know," Willow looked around the empty hallway she was standing in, making sure no one was coming. The last thing she needed was anyone catching her. The hotel was full of people - which wasn't very handy, but she had managed to find this back place for the quick call. And there was... "Never mind, I got her," she said. Jessika was standing just inside a fire exit door, looking extremely frustrated.   
  
Willow panicked a moment, wondering if Jessika had heard her.   
  
"Good, don't let her out your site." Nienna hung up. Willow put her phone away, tossed back her hair and forced her self to smile as Jessika passed by her. "What are you doing out here?"  
  
Jessika paused, looking like a struck kitten caught in headlights for a minute before getting her bearings. "I had to make a quick call." Her eyes narrowed. "What about you?"  
  
"Needed a cigarette," Willow answered, grabbing the pack of Marlborough Lights from her bag and showing her the pack. "Come on, we're missing all the fun."  
  
Jessika's eyebrow arched. "Fun," she echoed dully, but resigned to following Willow back into the party.   
  
* * *  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Code name please?"  
  
"Purple Rain." Adreena tapped her fingers impatiently, waiting for someone at Circle Daybreak to give her conformation and put her through to someone with authority.   
  
"Thanks, who do you wish to speak to?"  
  
"Someone in charge. I have information about a new species of dragon, I believe my friend Jessika Harman passed it onto you guys, about a Saffron Iria?" Adreena waited patiently, phone clutched against her ear. If the Night World already had their hands on the new dragon, then they were as good as dead.  
  
"Yes, I'll put you through to Lord Thierry, this matter is of dire importance. And you are?"  
  
"Adreena Galena." She bit her nails nervously as she waited. Jessika had trusted her to make sure nothing happened to Saffron, but considering who Saffron was, they she felt sure she needed some sort of back up.   
  
"Adreena? You have some information about the Rainbow dragons?" Thierry's voice was calm and cool, with a hint of eagerness as well.   
  
"Well, probably nothing you don't already know about - huh? Rainbow dragons?"  
  
"Yes, the species name is Arcobaleno roughly translated - Rainbow. Something to do with some colour changing abilities, we believe, we're not too clear. We need to make sure this girl Saffron is absolutely safe."  
  
Adreena stood up, pacing around her room, tripping over the clothes and books thrown carelessly around. She didn't have the patience to sit down right now. "Well Jessika has to go to her grandfather's eightieth birthday or something. She called a few minutes ago, convinced something's wrong. Their house is supposed to be built on something. Her sister Nienna is a Circle Midnight witch and she never showed at the party, and the bottom line is - "   
  
"You think Nienna and her Circle are up to no good," Thierry finished for her.  
  
"Yeah," Adreena nodded, peering out of her window at the stars covering the blue-black sky.   
  
"What's under the house?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
There was an awkward silence. Obviously it was something important if Circle Midnight were interested, or that was the idea anyway. And, probably something that could be of no good to anyone.   
  
"We need to find that out," Thierry said. "You get over to Jessika's house and stay with Saffron. I will send a backup team ASAP." Thierry hung up. Adreena headed over, a cold shiver running through her.  
  
* * * 


	5. Part 5

Part 5  
  
Once inside the house, she decided wandering around in human form at the time being was probably a bad idea. She didn't need her cover blown. Security hadn't detected her yet, and the stupid girl Saffron had thought nothing of her.   
  
Not so smart for a dragon, she thought with a sneer... Most doors were closed, and in her animal form, it wasn't much fun trying to get them open. She was just supposed to be keeping an eye on things, there as a back up anyway.  
  
The house itself gave her an uncomfortable feeling of darkness and death. There was a large silver padlock on the basement door, making her curious about what was held down there. When the Circle Midnight witches did their ritual, she guessed she'd find out.  
  
* * *   
  
"So much for a rare species," Jez muttered with a heavy sigh, sitting in the passenger seat of Morgead's car as they headed out on a new task.   
  
"Oh shut up," Poppy snorted. "You've done nothing but complain since we got the task. You should be thrilled."  
  
Jez muttered under her breath again. Adreena herself wondered if 'thrilled' was the right word to feel about this assignment. She had been instant that whatever team Thierry sent. The team that had arrived at Adreena's house were Jez Redfern, half human, half vampire, also Wild Power, her soulmate former bad-boy Morgead Blackthorn, Poppy North, who used to be a human with a lost witch in her family line, and Yelena Arnold, a shapeshifter. Plus there was her. So one Wild Power, two lamia, one made vampire and an eagle shifter up against this new species of dragon and Circle Midnight witches. Thrilled, was *definitely* not a word Adreena was thinking of right now.  
  
"What exactly, are we supposed to be doing again?" Yelena sounded bored, making Adreena wonder what her story was. She'd heard of Jez and Morgead, Poppy was starting to make a name for herself in Circle Daybreak, but she had never heard of Yelena before now.   
  
"We are going to find Adreena's friend Saffron Iria, who is some supposed species of new dragon, or old dragon just woken up or whatever, you think something's going wrong?" Morgead glanced up at the rear-view mirror, catching Adreena's eye.  
  
Adreena nodded. "Uh-huh."  
  
"I thought dragons were supposed to have been put to sleep by the witches like, thirty thousand years ago, or something like that," Yelena pointed out, lazily expecting her nails.  
  
//Where'd you find these people// Adreena found herself saying telepathically to Poppy.  
  
//Thierry finds them, only the ones who are supposed to be the best, so if Thierry added her to the team, she must have something to provide// Poppy answered, careful to make sure she wasn't looking at Adreena.  
^I'd like to see her prove it^ Adreena thought. Then again, she had never worked with any of these people before, they had no idea what she was like. She would have to prove herself to them as well.   
  
"She does have a point, how's the Assredeebo or whatever different from a regular dragon?" Jez said, stretching like a cat in her seat.   
  
"Arcobaleno," Adreena corrected. She shrugged minimally, flushing. "I don't really know, just that Saffron isn't like anyone you've ever met before. Thierry says translated, it's supposed to mean Rainbow dragon. I don't think they know any more than we do yet."  
  
"Do the Night World know?" Yelena was looking at Adreena, eyes narrowed suspiciously, making Adreena flush even more.   
  
"Not as far as I'm aware, I only know about Saffron through a friend of mine," she answered defensively.  
  
"What's everyone's problem?" Poppy was insisting, sounding almost irritatingly cheerful. "I think this is exciting, our chance to learn about a new species."  
  
"Yeah," Jez muttered, "one that if pissed off would fry you and eat you for lunch. With a side order of fries and onion rings."  
  
Adreena's eyes rolled at the comment, but decided not to add one of her own. Mainly because part of her seemed to think that Jez was right. They didn't know what they were dealing with really. Probably why her stomach was in knots. The closer they got, the more nervous she was.   
  
* * * 


	6. Part 6

Author's note: Huge thanks to everyone who's commented so far, sorry about he delay, I haven't forgotten about this story, I've been a little busy in real life, anyway, I'm back on track now, and updates should be coming more regularly. I've also rewritten part 5 as well.   
  
  
Part 6  
  
"Go away, I'm off duty at the moment." A Night World Lord's job was never done. ^No rest for the wicked^ Slade Nightshade thought as the irritating person knocking on his bedroom door just did not seem to want to bugger off and leave him the hell alone.   
  
"Deva Harman is *up* to something forbidden and it involves waking a Dark Dragon!" the whiney female voice continued. She sounded like a stubborn child who just wasn't getting her way.   
  
Slade pulled the covers over his head. All he had wanted was one day off, one day where he could kick back and relax and not have to constantly curse Hunter Redfern for being an ass and getting himself blasted by blue fire. When the Council had come to *him* to take over, he had taken the job without question, his chance for power, glory and terror. Now he was beginning to regret it.  
  
He heard the door opening, and something heavy sitting on the bed beside him, a slender white hand was yanking back his red satin bed covers, shaking his shoulder impatiently. "Get *up* you lazy jerk this is *important*!"  
  
Slade sighed, his eyes still closed, as he lay there naked, trying to find the sheets again. "Of course it is Blythe, everything you say is important, leave a message with my secretary."  
  
"You want to know about this, get up, get up, get *up*!" She hit him with a pillow.  
It was the last straw. Slade's eyes opened and he sat up, his messy blond hair obscuring one eye as he grabbed the pillow out of Blythe's hand and pushed her off his large double bed, sending her flying across the room, her back hitting the wall opposite.  
  
Blythe sat up, giggling, almost manically. "You're so cute when you're pissed," she said, standing up again, taking a moment to regain her balance as she walked back over to him.  
  
It became clear that Slade wasn't going to get any sort of rest while Blythe had news about Deva Harman. The leader of the Circle Midnight witches, Deva was usually up to something, and it was usually illegal and forbidden, but she was great in bed and he generally let her do what she wanted.   
  
Blythe's arms wrapped around his waist, her chin on his shoulder, her coppery red hair brushed against his bare chest, almost like a kitten's fur. "What is it Blythe?"  
  
"I wanted Cash to do something for me, but he's about to help the witch bitches kidnap some girl Deva wants to sacrifice for some icky magic ritual, he said something about coloured dragons." Blythe's tongue was dipping into his ear as she spoke.  
  
"Get off me so I can get dressed," Slade told her, trying to untangle her. She had been one of the vampire girls Hunter had liked to keep around, though why, Slade wasn't really sure. Blythe tended to get a little irritating after about - oh, ten minutes.   
  
"Why? It's not like I've never seen you without your clothes." She grinned and started to reach for his crotch. Slade sighed and pushed her hands away. She pouted and let go as he pulled on a black bathrobe and a pair of boxer shorts.  
  
"What kind of coloured dragon?" he asked. He had been told one kind of dragon had been used as distraction to get the last Wild Power, the Harman girl Iliana. Someone had made an alliance and woken him up.   
  
Blythe shrugged, stretching out on his crumpled sheets in a rather slutty pose. "The girl they wanted, Cash said her name was Saffron, and Claire seemed to think she was an Arcobaleno dragon, and the one they needed to wake was the nasty kind of these dragons, and, it's all kind of confusing, really."  
  
"Does Deva know something about this witch who isn't a witch?" That whole thing had been bugging him for weeks since the Wild Power had killed the last dragon. As he was dead, he couldn't tell Slade who woke him up, no one else seemed to know, and no one had come forward admitting it was them.   
  
"How the hell should I know? Get Cash and make up come kill someone for me!" Blythe sat up swiftly, following him down the stairs to his office.   
  
"Who is it you want dead?" Slade said, closing his eyes. The sooner he got rid of her, the better. Cash Redfern was one of his most frequently used assassins, and for some unknown reason, he seemed to actually like Blythe.   
  
  
"Willow Redfern, she's mean," Blythe complained. It was almost hard to believe that Blythe was actually 200. What she had done in all that time was a mystery.   
  
"Why don't you go take care of her yourself? Free reign, do what you want, take who you want with you."  
  
Blythe opened her mouth to protest, then changed her mind. "But I want - oh, okay." She turned around and danced happily off.  
  
^Thank God for that,^ Slade muttered, sitting down and picking u[p his phone. He thumbed through his address book, looking for one of his Circle Daybreak spies, someone who would make more sense than Blythe. Ah. She would do, he thought, dialling the number.  
  
* * * 


	7. part 7

Part 7  
  
Cash was starting to wonder what the catch was. This whole thing seemed far too easy. One girl alone in a giant house and a bunch of witches sneaking in around the back? He would have expected people who were this wealthy to have a little more security instead of one guard who happened to be dead.  
  
^Well, they do have a girl who's a dragon in the house^ he thought, leaning in the door to the living room where she was watching TV. She was pretty in a very weird way. He'd never seen anyone with hair such a vivid purple before, her profile was outlined, almost glowing in the light from the TV.   
  
//You want me to grab the bitch yet?// he said to Claire. She hadn't even noticed his presence yet, which made him wonder just how smart this dragon girl - Saffron, was it? - really was.   
  
And he was also beginning to worry that a slightly dim dragon might be more dangerous than an aware one. Cash had no idea about dragon powers or their magic. He wasn't too keen on scaring this girl and making her do something he was going to regret.  
  
He'd heard a tiny flaky lost and totally untrained witch had managed to kill a dragon with blue fire. He wasn't lucky enough to have those kind of powers.  
  
//Yeah, get her to the basement, we've got some chains set up, we'll actually be doing the ritual sooner rather than later, we've got Daybreak dorks on our tail// Claire told him. //Get her pedant if you can, that'll weaken her and she won't be able to use magic on you//  
  
Cash smirked, moving forward to approach the girl from behind. Something at his foot squealed loudly. It was a small ginger cat, glaring at him furiously, snarling, barring it's tiny but sharp teeth.  
  
Cash swore at it and kicked it away viciously.   
  
"Who are you?"  
  
The girl was looking up at him.  
  
* * *  
Saffron had actually sensed the boy the minute he had come into the mansion. Something in her mind had been warning her about the presence of a vampire somewhere near by. Vampires had never really bothered her all that much, she guessed the vampire was a friend of either Jessika or Nienna. Probably Nienna, Jessika seemed to dislike vampires for some reason she had never said.  
  
The boy had trod on the cat's tail. Before she could tend to the cat, the cat had run, and Saffron was left alone with this mystery boy. He was reasonably tall, smooth skin with a healthy tan, his eyes were a dark blue, right now narrowed in either anger or surprise, she wasn't really sure. His lips were tight and drawn as he frowned at her, maybe would be fuller and sensual if he was smiling. Black hair framed his face, falling in a messy tangle to his shoulders.  
  
"Who are you?" she asked.  
  
He straightened, and treated her to a smile that seemed to her to be extremely cold, and gave her instant creeps. "Cash Redfern."  
  
He apparently wasn't much on words, either. Saffron turned the sound on the TV off. "What are you doing here? There's no one else in the house."  
  
Cash Redfern continued to eye her, smiling his chilling smile. "Not quite. Your security guard is dead, Circle Midnight witches are surrounding the house."  
  
Saffron just stared at him, not sure if she believed him or not. Was this some sort of game he was trying to play? Whatever it was, she was guessing Nienna was behind it all. Jessika was her friend, and she was Daybreak, why would she set up Circle Midnight witches to come in? She started to back away towards the door, hoping to make a run for it if she had to.   
  
"What would Circle Midnight witches want with me?" She was pretty certain she knew.  
  
"Something to do with a sacrifice," he answered, and without warning, lunged forward, knocking her over. Saffron shrieked, letting out a blast of red fire magic, caught off guard the blast missed Cash and struck the TV. He was grappling at her throat, trying to get his hands on her amulet.  
  
Saffron struggled under him, trying to push him off, but he was heavier than he looked. She couldn't think clearly enough to actually shift. He struck her face with the palm of his hand. She bit her teeth into his flesh, tasting blood.  
  
On top of that, she was starting to have trouble breathing, her vision was sparkling with some sort of pink haziness. ^Oh crap^ Saffron thought, realising what was going on. ^Could you have picked a worse time to interfere?^ Cash tore his hand away from her, snarling at his bloodied hand, hitting her several times all the same.  
  
Saffron stared up at him, her vision going blurry. "We - "  
  
"I know, don't say it, it doesn't make the slightest bit of fucking difference." He tore the chain from around her neck, holding up the ruby and amethyst pendant.   
  
Saffron made a weak sound of protest, trying to get the amulet from him. It was her birth amulet...she...she needed that. Her powers would be next to useless...hell, she was next to useless at the moment, nothing was going right.   
  
*Jessika, help me...* she thought vaguely as she passed out.  
  
* * * 


	8. Part 8

Part 8  
  
Jessika was certain if she had to stand around and be nice to these awful snooty rich people for any longer she was going to throw up. She was bored out her brains, and to make things worse, for some reason Willow Redfern was hanging around her.  
  
Which didn't make any sense whatsoever to Jessika. She knew Willow didn't like her. Nienna had never shown up, and Jessika couldn't lie for her sister, because she had no idea where Nienna was.  
  
And since Willow seemed to be determined to keep her *at* the party it just made her all the more suspicious something was going on. She couldn't help thinking it had something to do with Saffron looking after the house while she and her parents were out of it.   
  
Jessika had managed to get outside for a breath of air, and luckily for her Willow didn't seem to have followed her. She was occupied with some cute guy in a tux. He'd keep her busy for a while.   
  
She took her cell phone out again. The house number just rang out. Jessika shook her head in utter confusion. Everyone she had tried to call that night hadn't answered.   
  
Which meant she had been right about something not being right all along. She was sick of not getting any answers when she tried calling people, so she'd just have to make some excuse up and go do something about it herself.  
  
A piercing scream from the party made her whip her head round. She slipped back in. Voices were raised in panic, people were turning around, pushing and shoving, trying to get out. Jessika couldn't see what was going on through the crowd of confusion.  
  
More screams echoed when blasts of orange witch fire stared ringing out, men in black were running around with guns and wooden weapons. As a Daybreaker, it should have been her duty to call for back up, help these people.  
  
But these were Night People of the worst kind, and frankly, she thought they were getting what they deserved. It was the distraction she needed to get out and get *home*.  
  
As she shoved through the crowd to get to an exit, she was startled by the unexpected cry inside her mind.   
  
//Jessika, help me!//  
  
Saffron? Jessika could feel her frustration building. Only a witch she wasn't capable of telepathy to communicate. And she sure as hell didn't trust a single vampire here enough to get them to reply for her.   
  
She tripped over something, screaming as she landed on a withered and dried body. A vampire corpse in a familiar gold dress. Though she knew better than to hope it was Willow.  
  
She scrambled to her feet, trying to make herself small and unnoticed. Some stunningly gorgeous girl was standing on the buffet table shouting out instructions, looking like she was the one leading the assault on the party.   
  
Jessika frowned. The girl was Blythe Redfern, a known lover of the current head of the Night World. What would she be doing attacking Jessika's grandfather's birthday party? Jessika didn't want to think about it. She just wanted to get out of there and get to Saffron.   
  
She'd worry about Blythe Redfern later. Once outside she managed to hotwire herself a car, a handy trick an old boyfriend had once passed on. She remembered being horrified at the time, also intrigued and scared. She'd never imaged the trick would come in useful for her. She just hoped whoever's car it was had been killed in the attack.   
  
Her cell phone started to ring as she was half way to her house. She was extremely tempted just to ignore it, unfortunately, the ringer was persistent.  
  
"What is it?" she snapped on answering. She swore under her breath finding herself stuck in a traffic jam on the highway.   
  
"It's Adreena Galena, from Circle Daybreak? Where are you?"  
  
Jessika just about remembered the girl from one or two of her classes, maybe she'd seen her at a party at Lord Thierry's mansion, but apart from that she didn't really remember much about her. "On my way home, why? Is something wrong?"  
  
Jessika already knew something was wrong, maybe Saffron had called Circle Daybreak for help, maybe Saffron was all right and she was panicking for nothing.  
  
"Don't go home, there's a safehouse about ten minutes from your house, 256 Karayan Drive. Go there."  
  
"Why? What the hell is going on? Look, my friend Saffron is in my house, she called me for *help*. Something's going on, I *need* to get her out."  
  
"We know. The house has been taken over by a group of Circle Midnight witches, we're working on getting a spy inside to see what's happening. The best thing you can do now is come help *our* team."  
  
"Who's on the team?"   
  
"Jez Redfern, Morgead Blackthorn, Poppy North, me and Yelena Arnold."  
  
Jessika knew of most of the names. The only one she didn't know was Yelena Arnold. Which sounded like a shifter name to her. Circle Midnight...wait a minute.  
"Find my sister, Nienna, find her, she's responsible for this." She scowled in fury, unable to believe how Nienna could trick her into this. Granted, Nienna was Circle Midnight, she certainly wasn't the nicest person in the world. She was nasty and spiteful, but Jessika had never thought she'd actually *hurt* anyone.   
  
^I'm coming Saffron,^ she thought. ^I'm so sorry, please don't die on me.^   
  
"We're already looking into it. Try not to let anyone see you."  
"Right," Jessika muttered, hanging up as the traffic jam finally started moving again. Nienna and her stupid bitchy friends were going to try and release...it. They were foolish enough to think they could handle it.  
  
Jessika shook her head. If they did actually manage to pull it off, she wouldn't be surprised if it killed them all just for the hell of it. ^It would certainly serve them right,^ she thought with surprising meanness.  
  
* * * 


	9. Part 9

Part 9  
  
Her tail was still throbbing in pain. ^Idiot^, she thought angrily. If she had been in human form, she'd have kicked his ass for treading on her so carelessly like that.   
  
Well at least the hired hand had actually made an appearance and seemed to be doing his job. She had slinked back into the room to see how Cash would handle his task, and seemed to be doing a reasonable job of it. Oh, wait. She perched on top of the couch, watching as he knocked her over. Listening to the brief, angry words from him it didn't take a genius to figure out what had just happened when their bare hands had touched.   
  
She hoped off the couch and padded out the room, leaving Cash staring at the unconscious form of Saffron lying on the floor. If she had been in human form, she would have laughed at him.  
  
* * *  
  
Cash stared at Saffron in disbelief. Why now? Why of all times did this have to happen to him now? It just wasn't fair. He hadn't asked for it to show up. He'd been quite happy going from girl to girl, taking the ones who appealed and discarding them when he was done. It was a pretty easy way of life.   
  
"You'd have thought for a species of dragon the girl would have put up more of a fight." Deva Harman herself appeared in the doorway, wrapped in her traditional dark robes, though this time, her face was actually showing. Her nose was sharp and straight, her eyes almond shaped, a dark green, her lips full, a dusky rose colour. Her cheekbones were slanted, slightly angular giving her entire face a sort of pointed look, pretty in a mysterious way.   
  
Cash shrugged, sticking the amulet in the back pocket of his jeans. "Well, she didn't. Let's just get her locked up, shall we?"  
  
Deva laughed, dry and grating, reminding him of sandpaper. "You're giving *me* orders?" She shook her head, bemused. "Well yes that is what we were intending to do with her. Since things have gone a bit faster than I planned, we might be able to do the ritual tomorrow night rather than Sunday. The sooner the better."  
  
Another girl came into the room, waist length chestnut hair, dressed in black jeans and a black shirt. She looked at the still figure on the living room floor. "I take it everything's going according to plan so far." She looked up at Cash. "Who the hell is he?"  
  
Cash forced his expression to remain blank. He couldn't afford to show any emotion at the moment. "I could ask you the same thing," he said reasonably.   
  
"He's Cash Redfern, she's Nienna Harman, it's her house." Deva was smiling faintly.   
  
Cash vaguely recalled seeing Nienna leaving the house before he had come in. Though it was probably not much of an observation. "You're both Harman." That surprised him. "From what I knew Harman females were supposed to be extremely rare." The last he knew there were only four Harman females around, one of them being something to do with this end of the world Wild Power prophecy that had never come around yet.   
  
Deva shrugged. "I am a relation of Emmeth Harman, one of the twins sent away to England during the war. Nienna is a relation of Elspeth, the sister. More of their descendents are being found and as with the usual population of witches, most of us just happen to be female." She smiled. "You're saying that's a bad thing?"  
  
Cash forced a laugh that came out with a strange sound, more like a hiccup. "Not really. So. Our dragon, then? Where'd Claire get herself to?" He was kind of curious to actually meet the girl who'd recruited him for the mission. Not that it had been much of a mission. He didn't know why they couldn't have used some of their own members.   
  
"Claire's around somewhere," Deva said dismissively. She glanced over at Nienna. "Do me a favour and go ask Lucius to come and help us move her."   
  
Nienna grumbled under her breath, but left the room. As long as someone else handled carting her off to lock her up, Cash would be all right. He didn't want to have to touch her again. It had been a fluke. Some sort of weird dragon magic to try and distract him. Yes, that was all that flash of lightning had been. "Lucius?" he asked with a slight frown.  
  
"The only male in our group," Deva said, sighing reproachfully.  
  
A tall thin boy came into the room. There didn't seem to be anything remarkable about him. Small grey eyes were narrowed at Cash, a thin mouth was twisted in a scowl. His skin was almost unnaturally pale. He picked up Saffron's shoulders. "Get her feet."  
  
Cash didn't feel like arguing. And just did.   
  
"Take her to the basement, there are some restraints set up I need her in." Deva followed them while Cash and Lucius carted off their load.  
  
Cash shivered as he entered the basement, a feeling of coldness struck him almost with a physical force as he went down the steps. He looked quickly at the others, but neither Lucius or Deva showed any signs of feeling it.   
  
Deva led them to the centre of the room where two chains with wrist restrains hung from the ceilings. With a bit of difficulty, they shifted Saffron to get her wrists fasted in. Two more chains went around her ankles. Cash moved away from her as quickly as he could. To his alarm he felt a trickle of sweat running down his forehead. He wiped it away quickly, though luckily again neither of the others had noticed anything - off - about him.   
  
"We'll take turns guarding her," Deva was saying, looking around the basement. There was a strange expression on her face. She was reaching out, almost as if she were trying to touch something that only she could see.   
  
"Fine, I got her for you, someone else can do guard duty first." Cash walked out of the basement as quickly as he could without actually running. Even out of Saffron's presence, he didn't feel any better.  
  
He left the mansion, hoping the fresh air would calm him down. It didn't. His mind was in an uproar. Hadn't he said that thing he thought might be a soulmate connection was a fluke? Something she had been trying to use to persuade him not to hurt her.  
  
^Who the hell are you trying to kid?^ his inner voice sneered at him.   
  
Cash sighed miserably. So much for what should have been a quick, easy assignment.   
  
* * * 


End file.
